Padme Gown - The making of, Part 2

Padme Gown - The making of, Part 2

Day 4 Thursday -
Vest - I added the grommets, and tried on the corset vest; low and behold, it's a near perfect fit!!!! I can't believe it, there was a lot of guesswork with the last back panels. ; ) The front shoulder straps are perfect, but the back ones aren't laying flatly; I cut them at too much of an angle, so if I draw them directly over the shoulder to meet the front straps, they buckle a bit at the mid-back/shoulder join. The options are to make the front straps a bit narrower, and join the back straps to the front starting at the neck edge of the front strap, and living with any buckling in the back strap; or I can bite the bullet and add a dart to remove the buckling. I HATE that option, the dart will be completely out of place, but will never be seen since this is an undergarment. So, while I mull that over, I am setting the vest aside until I get the sleeves done; then I can pin them into the vest, and see how I feel about the shoulder straps then.

Sleeve cuffs: The sleeves and cuffs were cut out of grey crepe, but I knew the crepe wasn't going to hold it's shape as a cuff, so I decided (somewhat begrudgingly) to add stabilizer to the inside of the cuff so that it wouldn't wrinkle when worn. (I HATE stabilizer, I am going to look at other options one day!!) I cut out the stabilizer from lightweight fusible stock, and fused it to the cuff fabric. That's when I realized I only cut out one set of cuffs from the crepe, and I need two; one for the lining, one for the outside. Grrr... : )

Day 5 - Friday

Sleeves - I cut the second set of cuff fabric, cut the fabric to make the button loops, and pinned bias tape to the inside of the sleeves for the elastic casing. I'm diverting from the dress instructions and adding a second row of casing under the first; the pictures from the original costume show two rows, and I think it will be necessary on mine because of the lightweight aluminum I am going to try to use to make the armbands; it will be better if they aren't holding the sleeve in, just sitting on top of the elasticed part.

Day 6 - Saturday

Sleeves - I sewed the elastic channel in, and tested it out; I HATED it. I put the second elastic in, and that's when I realized the overall sleeve was too short, and didn't have the draping effect that was so characteristic of the original costume. I also realized the cuffs were too long. :SIGH: I lopped 2" off the top of each cuff, which solved that problem. I debated adding extensions to the sleeves, and hiding the seam under the lower elastic band, but I wasn't thrilled with the elastic anyhow, and I had leftover silver crepe, so I cut new sleeves, adding 8" to the length. This time around, I serged the inner seam of the sleeve, and added gathering stitches where the elastic would go. I pulled the gathers, and this time skipped the channeling, and instead sewed the elastic directly to the fabric. It worked perfectly! I sewed the newly shortened cuffs back on, and tried on a sleeve - it's as good as it's going to get! I then pinned one sleeve into the corset vest, and adjusted the shoulder strap of the vest. It looks awesome. I have decided to wait until I have the velvet vest ready to try on over the corset vest and sleeves before I finish the shoulder seams on the corset vest, I want to be sure it won't show under the velvet vest before I add the binding. Tomorrow, my goal is to cut out the duck and velvet for the vest, and start putting that together. I still have the hairpieces and jewelry to go, plus the placard, so the more I can get done on the garments this weekend, the better.